Research from the Alliance & Leicester has found that it costs parents in the UK over £17,000 to help their children get a foot on the property ladder. This figure is £4,000 more generous than was expected by first-time buyers who had turned to their parents for help. In the current property climate, prospective first-time buyers are searching for extra funds wherever they can; many of the younger ones are financially constrained by debts such as student loans or new jobs which do not offer wages large enough to put a deposit down on a house.

Alliance & Leicester’s report also discovered that many parents plan ahead for their children’s futures, ‘planning to support their children well past the age of 18, especially when it comes to their first home.’ However, unexpected bills and circumstances can bite deeply into parental finances and often they are left with far less to offer than they initially planned. Interestingly, it seemed that fathers are more concerned with providing for their children’s futures than mothers, although the report also found that many parents would rather let their children ‘make their own way in the world’ and offered little or no financial support at all.

Many parents have turned to unsecured loans in order to see through what they consider to be their obligations and responsibilities. Rather than adding to any further worry where property is concerned, they are taking advantage of the incentives related to personal loans that have suddenly saturated the financial sector. And thanks to unprecedented competition between banks, financial firms and other institutions, such as supermarkets like ASDA, this type of loan offers low rates of interest to those with a reasonable credit rating. Royal Bank of Scotland is just one of the banks that has bucked the trend by offering rates of 6.9% APR for their loans, as well as a range of unique incentives.

The best loans are obviously the cheapest but, with each institution offering its own incentives and benefits, deciding which one to apply for can be a daunting prospect.

Comparison sites such as uSwitch.com have now become an almost-integral part of the process in choosing a loan. As independent parties, they offer impartial advice on how to think about and interact with money. As well as articles on aspects of personal finance, they offer facilities such as free online calculators that are designed to compare and contrast the benefits offered by lenders and assess their suitability for your personal situation. Alliance and Leicester is also worth a look for its loan calculator

The most obvious benefit for many parents is that an unsecured loan incurs no risk as far as their own property is concerned. However, the market is such that there are also a dizzying range of deals available for homeowners. The escalation of property prices can work in favour of homeowners, who can now release the extra capital that their homes have accrued. Again, competition between the institutions is stiff; homeowner loans ASDA, for example, offers a typical APR of 9.9% with the option to repay the loan over a longer period of time at reduced rates.

Despite the rise in house-prices apparently forcing many first-time buyers out of the market, there are a variety of options available for discerning parents who want to give their children a financial ‘leg-up’.